AfriGeneas States Research Forum

Popular, award-winning NewsChannel 5 meteorologist Lelan Statom will host the third annual Black History celebration next month, Saturday, Feb. 24, at The Renaissance Center in Dickson.

Sponsored by TriStar Bank, the event will include a concert featuring choirs from more than a dozen local churches whose memberships are primarily African-American.

Ashley Brown, marketing spokesperson at TriStar, said a scholarship will also be made available to African-American seniors from Creek Wood and Dickson County high schools.
Brown said that last year CDs were made featuring the various choirs who participated in the celebration and proceeds from the sales of those CDs fund the scholarships.
“This year the bank will provide $100 for each church that participates,” Brown said.
Various speakers will read excerpts from African-American speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Brown said.
She said door prizes donated by local businesses will be given away at the event as well.
Statom, who is very active in the African-American community in Nashville, said Wednesday that his job will be to “emcee and guide the program along.”
He said he is looking forward to the event.
“The event that is going to take place in Dickson is a very exciting one,” Statom said, adding that he was scheduled to host the celebration last year but due to bad weather the event had to be moved to another date and he was unable to attend. “The celebration and the choirs from the community should be just a great celebration for everybody, no matter what your background, to come out and enjoy.”
Ted Williams, president at TriStar Bank, said he personally loves the music and sees the event as a way to celebrate Black History Month.
“We thought it might be a way to kind of recognize Black History Month and a unique way to kind of celebrate the past and the future,” Williams said. “It’s a fun time, a time to get all the congregations together. It’s a time to celebrate the history of Black people throughout this country.”
According to his biography on the NewsChannel 5 Web site, Statom started his career in Knoxville, first at WTVK-TV, then at WATE. He worked as a weather anchor and also served as a producer, photojournalist, tape editor and weekend assignment editor.
Statom also worked with Black Entertainment Television News during his time in Knoxville. In 1990 he moved to WCYB in Bristol, VA where he was a weekend weather anchor/reporter. In 1993, NewsChannel 5 noticed his skills and he moved his family to Nashville. He has received several awards and honors during his more than 10 years at the station. He was the recipient of the YMCA Black Achievers Award in 1994 and 1995, and he has been named one of Nashville's top weather anchors by readers' polls in “The Tennessean” and the “Nashville Scene.”
The Black History celebration is set for 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24 at The Renaissance Center located at 855 Hwy. 46 South in Dickson.
Admission is free.
“This is a community event and we hope everyone will get involved,” Brown said